Can my DB?

Multi-Table UPDATE / DELETE

Update or delete rows in one table based on a join condition with another table.

multi-table delete delete join delete using multi-table update
update delete join multi-table
DatabaseStatusSyntax FamilyMin Version
PostgreSQL full delete-using -
MySQL full multi-table-delete -
MariaDB full multi-table-delete -
Oracle workaround subquery -
SQL Server full delete-from-join -
SQLite workaround subquery -
Redshift full delete-using+update-from -
DB2 partial correlated-subquery -
Snowflake full delete-using+update-from -
BigQuery partial update-from+delete-subquery -

Compare Databases

Database Details

PostgreSQL full 
DELETE FROM orders
USING customers
WHERE orders.customer_id = customers.id
  AND customers.status = 'inactive';
  • Uses DELETE ... USING to join additional tables.
  • Only deletes from the target table, not from the USING tables.
Docs: DELETE
MySQL full 
DELETE orders
FROM orders
JOIN customers ON orders.customer_id = customers.id
WHERE customers.status = 'inactive';
  • Can delete from multiple tables in a single statement.
  • Specify which tables to delete from before the FROM clause.
Docs: DELETE
MariaDB full 
DELETE orders
FROM orders
JOIN customers ON orders.customer_id = customers.id
WHERE customers.status = 'inactive';
  • Same multi-table DELETE syntax as MySQL.
Docs: DELETE
Oracle workaround 
DELETE FROM orders
WHERE customer_id IN (
  SELECT id FROM customers WHERE status = 'inactive'
);
  • No multi-table DELETE or DELETE ... USING syntax.
  • Use correlated subqueries or EXISTS clauses.
Docs: DELETE
SQL Server full 
DELETE orders
FROM orders
JOIN customers ON orders.customer_id = customers.id
WHERE customers.status = 'inactive';
  • Uses DELETE ... FROM with JOIN.
  • Only the target table rows are deleted.
Docs: DELETE
SQLite workaround 
DELETE FROM orders
WHERE customer_id IN (
  SELECT id FROM customers WHERE status = 'inactive'
);
  • No multi-table DELETE syntax.
  • Use subqueries in the WHERE clause.
Docs: DELETE
Redshift full 
DELETE FROM orders
USING customers
WHERE orders.customer_id = customers.id
  AND customers.status = 'inactive';
  • Supports joined UPDATE via UPDATE ... FROM and joined DELETE via DELETE ... USING.
  • Like PostgreSQL, only the target table is modified; joined tables are used for filtering.
Docs: UPDATE, DELETE
DB2 partial 
DELETE FROM orders o
WHERE EXISTS (
  SELECT 1
  FROM customers c
  WHERE c.id = o.customer_id
    AND c.status = 'inactive'
);
  • Db2 does not use PostgreSQL-style DELETE ... USING or MySQL-style multi-table DELETE syntax.
  • Equivalent behavior is achieved with correlated subqueries or MERGE.
Docs: UPDATE, DELETE
Snowflake full 
DELETE FROM orders
USING customers
WHERE orders.customer_id = customers.id
  AND customers.status = 'inactive';
  • Supports joined UPDATE via UPDATE ... FROM and joined DELETE via DELETE ... USING.
  • Only the target table is modified; joined tables participate in the predicate.
Docs: UPDATE, DELETE
BigQuery partial 
UPDATE orders
SET status = 'archived'
FROM customers
WHERE orders.customer_id = customers.id
  AND customers.status = 'inactive';
  • Supports joined UPDATE via UPDATE ... FROM.
  • DELETE does not use PostgreSQL-style USING syntax; equivalent delete behavior typically uses a subquery or MERGE.
Docs: BigQuery DML syntax